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ADDRESS.

DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,

THE solemn occasion on which we are assembled, suggests to us many and serious thoughts, which, if frequently recalled to the recollection of our minds, would conduce much to our moral and spiritual improvement; to the amendment of our lives, and the salvation of our souls.

According to a very ancient and very wise custom, we are met for the awful purpose of setting apart a peculiar place in which to bury the bodies of human beings; to bury the bodies of persons who have shared with ourselves the several endearments of social intercourse; to bury the bodies of Christians who have lived in the faith, and died in the hope, imparted to them by the Lord who redeemed them.

When we consider "how fearfully and wonderfully" we are made; when we consider that, in the frame of our bodies and faculties of our souls, we are infinitely superior to the brute creation; we immediately perceive it is degrading to our nature, and almost an insult to the Divine Author of our nature, that the deceased corpse of man should be removed from society with as much indifference as the dead carcass of a tame or a savage beast. From this persuasion, and a sense of respect for those who had been known, been honoured, been loved by them, the heathens, in nations where the

ADDRESS.

DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,

THE solemn occasion on which we are assembled, suggests to us many and serious thoughts, which, if frequently recalled to the recollection of our minds, would conduce much to our moral and spiritual improvement; to the amendment of our lives, and the salvation of our souls.

According to a very ancient and very wise custom, we are met for the awful purpose of setting apart a peculiar place in which to bury the bodies of human beings; to bury the bodies of persons who have shared with ourselves the several endearments of social intercourse; to bury the bodies of Christians who have lived in the faith, and died in the hope, imparted to them by the Lord who redeemed them.

When we consider "how fearfully and wonderfully" we are made; when we consider that, in the frame of our bodies and faculties of our souls, we are infinitely superior to the brute creation; we immediately perceive it is degrading to our nature, and almost an insult to the Divine Author of our nature, that the deceased corpse of man should be removed from society with as much indifference as the dead carcass of a tame or a savage beast. From this persuasion, and a sense of respect for those who had been known, been honoured, been loved by them, the heathens, in nations where the

manners were civilised, had, even in the days of highest antiquity, their places for burial, their tombs and monuments. And so natural is it for man to wish that even in death should be paid some respect to his relation or friend, his companion or countryman, not long since deceased; that, in islands rude and barbarous, lately discovered *, the dead are attended with funeral solemnities, and their remains are placed in a separate spot, which no one must approach without authority, or without reverence.

If to the ancient heathen, if to the unlettered savage, it has appeared proper, that one who partook of their own species, one who was a member of their own community, should, after death, be thus distinguished; to us, who are a people refined by learning and science; to us, who are a people enlightened and instructed in all the duties of humanity by the Gospel; to us it must seem still more suitable, that a man, a Briton, a Christian, should not be consigned to the earth without decent ceremonies, should not be cast out to unhallowed ground, there to perish with the beast of the field.

It is for those who, in their lives, seem to have renounced the dignity of man, the civilisation of Britons, the glorious expectations of Christians; it is for those only to be satisfied with the wretched prospect, that their friends and themselves shall in their latter end be brought to a level with brutes. All who retain their discernment of right and wrong, and have sound judgment of what is proper and improper; all who know the excellence of the human understanding, and the superiority of rational to mere animal powers; all such, as they

* Capt. Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 4to. vol. i. p. 402., and vol. ii. p. 519.

Hawkesworth's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 143.

have lived and acted with men, so they hope that after death they shall be numbered among men. And those, who are constant in attending Christian worship, and steadfast in believing Christian truths; they hope, that as, with their brethren they met to serve the Lord in holy congregations, so with their brethren they shall sleep in hallowed graves; sleep till the moment when that event shall happen, on which they have fixed their anxious and earnest views, the moment when all the dead shall hear the summoning voice, which shall bid them come forth from those graves!

The very spot on which you are now standing, may, perhaps, before many years are gone over your heads, be the place in which some of you may have your graves. This is a striking consideration. And, indeed, we may all of us derive much instruction from contemplating each of us his own future and respective grave.

Is any one raised to high honours? Let him consider, that, if he be come to the most eminent station, yet the next step must be to the grave. Therefore, let him be humble!

Is any one enriched with abundant possessions? Let him recollect, that all his riches, lands, houses, and treasures, he must soon leave, and come down naked to the grave. Therefore let him be moderate!

Is any one endowed with much learning and knowledge? He seeth that "wise men die, and are laid in "the grave." (Ps. xlix. 10-14.) Therefore let him be

meek!

Is any one a slave to vices of intemperance? Let him reflect, that he is shortening the days of his life, and hastening the hour in which, as a wretched, unprepared, and hopeless sinner, he will sink himself into a mansion

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